Today’s reminder: “No pride in occupation’: queer Palestinians on ‘pink-washing’ in Gaza conflict”

 “No pride in occupation’: queer Palestinians on ‘pink-washing’ in Gaza conflict”

Lots of privileged, centrist and conservative queers in the powerful West love to pretend Israel is a beacon of queer acceptance in the Middle East.  This helps prove Israel’s civility, they claim, ignoring facts to the contrary.

Not quite, as this Guardian article explores.  Required reading if you have no idea what I’m writing about.  

Does this mean Israel is all bad and that progressive activists should align with Hamas?  Of course not.  But we should be reminded there is a definite need for truly oppressed peoples to sympathize and support other truly oppressed peoples if you claim to be a supporter of human rights for all. And point out when allies are committing truly heinous acts. 

Ontario Catholic School Boards putting hatred ahead of student safety - It’s time to shut them down for good

I’ve long been on record opposing Ontario’s two-tiered public education system.  

In Ontario, we all inherited the status quo which consists of publicly funded schools for the general public and a separate system of publicly funded schools just for Roman Catholics.  There are no publicly funded school systems for any other religions.  In Ontario, Roman Catholics enjoy constitutionally protected special rights not enjoyed by any other religion.  It is fundamentally wrong and it is discrimination based on religion.  In an era where the right and the left are demanding full equality under the law, this is a relic of a bygone era that has no place in a modern society. 

Furthermore, despite the fact the vast majority of people favour equality and inclusion in our society, including the vast majority of Roman Catholics, many of these Catholic school boards are still putting their quite frankly hateful religious doctrine ahead of sending messages of inclusion and safety to their students.  

The latest examples being the Dufferin-Peel and York Region Catholic school boards who refuse even the modestly symbolic gesture of flying Pride flags during Pride.

The message to their students is clear: being LGBTQ is not okay.  This message reinforces discrimination and violence against LGBTQ students in their schools. An institution that supports discrimination against one group supports discrimination against all groups.  

Enough is enough!  I wish some Ontario political leader would finally have the guts to take on this unacceptable status quo.  

Former Newfoundland & Labrador premier Brian Tobin had the guts in the 1990s when he called a binding referendum in that province to give citizens the ability to vote to disband religiously segregated school systems and unite them into one publicly funded school system for all.  It won with over 70% of the vote.  The province and the federal government then passed the required constitutional amendments to remove the special exemptions that allowed their religiously discriminatory school systems.

We ought to do the same in Ontario as soon as possible.  I have a strong sense that Ontario voters would also vote by huge numbers in favour of one education system for all.  

If our political leaders won’t do it, citizens should force the issue.  I’d be in favour of citizen driven referendums (with thresholds of at least 5% of all voters to get the referendum triggered) that would allow us to organize and put this issue before all voters, since most Ontario political parties (except for the Ontario Greens) seem too scared to take on this sacred cow. 

Happy Pride Month, but beware the growing hatred in Canada and elsewhere

June is the beginning of Pride Month in Toronto and most places in North America.  It’s a time to celebrate the LGBTQ community, our history and the gains we’ve made overcoming bigotry and oppression, as well as remind ourselves of the battles still ahead for equality and dignity.

Most of the world is still hellish for LGBTQ folks for a variety of unfortunate reasons, mostly rooted in ignorance and religious bigotry.  Those fights continue and I'll be happy this week to attend Rainbow Railroad's Freedom Party to help raise money for this crucially important cause.  

But lately even the gains we’ve made in most of the democratic world are under increasing threat thanks to a resurgence of right-wing bigotry and irresponsibility.  

Republicans south of the Canadian border, taking advantage of public ignorance about trans people, have been on a rampage, overstepping government power to try to control and destroy trans peoples' rights and safety.  Sadly, they've inspired some Canadian conservatives to similarly target queer youth in Canada. 

The horrible Danielle Smith, premier of Alberta, is trying to roll back the rights of LGBTQ youth in Alberta schools, forcing educators to out trans youth, banning them from the healthcare they need, and making anti-bullying education "optional" for Alberta schools. 

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe even invoked the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to legislate similar attacks on vulnerable trans youth in his province. 

After his own attacks on trans youth, creepy New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs continues to peddle more attacks on other vulnerable youth, his latest including obsessing over and banning sex education provided to teenage girls designed to teach them about consent and healthy sexuality, before he even bothered to research the education he was banning.   

All of these attacks on vulnerable youth including queer youth are just ploys by conservatives to distract voters from their real agenda, which has always been to give more power to the already powerful elites and gatekeepers of society, all at the expense of the rest of us.  

"Don't worry about those massive tax cuts we are giving the rich while we enslave you and your family to their unfettered corporate greed, and cut your health care and public services!  Look over there!  Those scary trans extremists are trying to rape or hurt your children and only we will stop them," those disgusting conservatives are implying through their legislative actions and messaging. 

Sadly, these efforts to roll back progress seem to have convinced some ordinary conservatives it's okay to embrace their little hatreds.  A new poll out this weekend confirms that general support for LGBTQ rights and visibility is down in Canada by about 10 per cent since 2021.   

None of the gains we've made are chiselled in stone.  In fact, Canadian conservatives have shown they are just as willing as Republicans south of the border to attack our rights and invoke any legal means necessary to play their hateful games.  

Pierre Poilievre has also said he's happy to use the notwithstanding clause to roll back rights.  Considering most of his caucus is still dominated by dinosaurs who still obsess over controlling the bodies of all women on the abortion issue, we ought to be very alarmed about the future. 

I want to urge all people who support equality and dignity for all to reject the politics of hatred being espoused by conservatives or others.  We need to stand up against and challenge this hatred, and to let our more moderate conservative friends, family and neighbours know it's not okay.   

Stay strong, keep up the fight, and carry on!